Time's Sullivan Cites Left-wing 'Religious Group' to Insist Catholic Rep. Paul Ryan Has 'Ayn Rand Problem'

June 6th, 2011 3:55 PM

"I am fairly certain that when Paul Ryan first decided to publicly share his admiration of Ayn Rand, he could not have imagined it would lead to him speed-walking to his SUV to avoid a young Catholic trying to give him a Bible and telling him to pay more attention to the Gospel of Luke," Time's Amy Sullivan snarked in a June 3 Swampland blog post.

 

"But that’s what happened Friday morning in downtown Washington after Ryan spoke to the surprisingly smallish crowd gathered for Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Conference," the magazine's religion correspondent added, introducing a YouTube video of the episode.

Sullivan explained that "an interesting thing is happening right now around the GOP budget proposal. A broad coalition of religious voices is criticizing the morality of the choices reflected in budget cuts and tax policy." As part of that "broad coalition," Sullivan went on to describe and embed an anti-Ryan YouTube video by "the religious group American Values Network."

But even a cursory look at the website for AVN shows it has decidedly leftward liberal bent with a penchant for left-of-center political issues and liberal advisory committee members such as National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL)-endorsed former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) and former Clinton pastor Phil Wogaman.

The American Values Network has every right to do what it does and couch its liberal arguments in a religious light, but Sullivan should inform her readers that AVN is not simply a "religious group," suggesting it is apolitical or devoid of ideological grounding.